The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-04-28
RIVER JUNCTION, April 81, 1887

+. b. STOCKTON.
RIVER JUNCTION, April 81, 1887.
Hon. p B. Stockton, State Senator:
DEAR SIR: Yours of yesterday received l
recognize your right to make the request and
will scquiescs. 1t was my purpose TO delay The
matter until called on by some Committee If the
Legislature, but no notice TO that effect having
been given me, and being the target OF attack OF
friends and foes Of the past administration and
thus driven to the wall, am constrained TO DE-
tend myself and the former representatives and
nobody else, having all along purp''sely kept
quiet under full c0naciOusness of my ability 10
do %. Yours truly, $3.50 -
,ssSEF a 8. DuvAL
asxzsas lIgAsE. -
As simple y i6esskjss 81 drainage appears,
1t IL opes 3or va6f Of technical knowledge TO more
diversity q GpeoiOn than any other subject of the
kind esladE Eavil snginee1s, unless specially
educated, are oaIy better prepared but No more
quali1ed 10 haISdie the subjeM than any other
scientifically educated professionals For in
stance, It 10 not generally known that the text
books on the subject makex distinction between
general and farm drainage. The former being
performed By wealthy corporations and the lat
ter by individual farmera Now, without clear
conception Of this distinction illiberality will
likely exist and exert an influence to the injury
of the corporation. To Illustrate: A country
not otherwise 90, may be, by an immense outlay
OF money, rendered in . state of general recla-
nation and At for cultivation by lowering it's un-
derground surface Of seepags water, and still
need the farmers plow to break the
sink before it could give out any ap-
pearancs Of being benefcially affected. 1t
il remarkable what little thought people give to
the subject OF underground lakes, or realize their
existence. extent or the fact thst some are lin mo-
ton and some areat rest-either creeping stealth
iTy between the interstica 6t sand or gravel on
their march to the sca or tettling In stratums Of
various depths and areas. The idea of water per-
colsting through subterransan veins of various
capacities takes general monopoly Of the mind,
but the thought of tracing them to their under
ground sources of saturated soil rarely occurs.
Who thinks Of earths as pervious or imperviouss
and yet each surface lake retains its waters with
. bottom that may be cracked or broken with as
Ill effect as the wash bowl on ones chamber
stand. For lakes and prairies, ovsrfowed and
swamp land have been time and again reclaimed
BY the simple process of digging wells through
their impervious bottoms 10 some porous sub
stratum beneath. ~
To illustrate further the difference between
general and farm drainage, suppose a vast
slightly slanting area OF country, whose forma-
ton consists OF an impervious rock base, on
superstratum Of ordinary sandy soil, cfasted
over with vegetable MISTER, grassy turf and
ramidcafions of roots, ETC., partially opposing
the innltration of rain, should have lie upper
borders bounding the shores of some great lakes
and its loTer resting on the sea- In stages of
high watef the lakes would rise above their inn
permeable rims and filter down under the slant
ing country through the quicksand stratum,
satursting The entire region TO its limits on the
sea. And In case the imper vious rock WAS with
in few feet Of the surface, the ground might be
% saturated as to render the absorption Of fall
ing rsins imposssibie, and IN th1r case inundx
ton would ensue. Suppose again some wealthy
corporation should, for per centage of the
lands, lower the surface of the lakes within the
confines Of their impervious basins, thus cutting
OF entirely the supply Of seepage water, so when
the rains came they readily sunk after q short
time into the plowed ground, but were still par
TALLY retained on the surface Of the uncleared
ground BY its crust, turts and roots, aud in it's
muck bottom Observation-Disclosures say the
country was rendered fit for cultivation. Now
what contrariety OF opinion would exist among
the residents Of the region uninstructed in the
Art of drainage. What would cattlemen, farm
ers and old residents, long familiar with the
country, know about the reduction of the
seepage lsvel? Yet on just such evidence did
the late Commission base their opinions, TO the
Injury of great enterprise. without . figure or
AoCt W SoStaiu tnctE OptulOuS.
The industrious farmer finding the charactre
OF his crops improving might possibly notice his
pillow burrows drying up more readily than for
merly, but would never attribute il to the re-
duction of the waters in the lakes 1t the head of
the slope. particularly if his field be situated at
distance near its foot by the sea, for he would
not readily perceive how such q reduction could
indirectly drain of the rains that fell on his
land. Nevertheless this same farmer could easily
perceive how Q hole knocked in Q reservoir sit
uated on the summit of hill, would dry up
labyrinth ofpipes In . city below, but multiply
and diminish in size, the pipes, Gd tn 6nitun
until they became a. the interstices between the
grains Of gravel or sand, and call the reservoir q
lake, and his wisdom 10 gone The cattle man
might, as before, drive his cattle belly deep
through the pond, whose muck bottom still held
water like gourd, showing no unnatural d.
nunitibn and hastily would be damn the drain
age company. Yet hole In the pond, like q
hoie In the ground, would empty them both.
Nothing would suit his exacting IDEAS Of drain
age bat 10 ahingle over the region, and the cor
poration if left 10 them would 60 minus its per-
centage OF lAnda.
1t is very evident / am describing such
country rs extends from the lower Kissimmee
including Lake Okeeehobee, to Charlotte HafbSr.
The lower valley Of the Kissimmee, unlike the
upper, 10 fiat on q ndge sloping 10 the east -
lar - the prolongation Of the valley of the St.
Jshns. and westward 10 the Cult. The entire 70
eion has an impervious bed rOck within three or
tour feet OF the surface On this rock lies quick
sand, and then comes in ordinary sandy soil
topped With turf ETC., as heretofore described.
From the underground rim Of the valley Of the
kissimmee ,O.the Gulf, 10 an under lake Of seep-
age water passing TO the sea. when this valley
seepage lake 10 full throughout. Within few
ieet OF the surface, dig wherever you please ON
this shed from Kissimmee to Charlotte Harbor,
o. from Okeechobee to the Gulf, and the surface
o. shetsver present lake will sppesr. 1t hehis
expanse Of water which saturaies the ground,
prevents the absorption Of falling rains, and
consequently inundstiOu. Cut Of this seepage
supply and there 10 sand enough above the
rock % soak nm the falling raina